Objects of
our Desire fascinatingly plumbs the vastly intricate psychological pathways
of physical objects, or things. The author, Salman Akhtar, is a Professor of
Psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College. In a structural "prologue"
to the main structural edifice, Akhtar explains succinctly that the book is a
celebration of all things, which function to lend interest and meaning to human
life. Things can have vast psychological import. And indeed, a thematic
emphasis reverberating through the text is that things, in many ways, can be
quite psychologically rewarding as well as taxing.

Rather
delectably, Akhtar's writing exudes the alluring aroma of intellectual aplomb
and brilliance suffused as well with ineffable artistic beauty. In addition to
composing books tethered, subjectwise, to psychoanalysis and psychiatry, Akhtar
has published six volumes of poetry in English and Urdu. Even when Akhtar digs
deeply into the dark, dank cellar of humanity, in tireless search of the psychological
underpinnings of things, the dregs uncovered are characteristically described
with poetic charm.

Those in thrall
to fathoming the psychological inscrutability of things owe many thanks to
Akhtar's relentlessly painstaking efforts in this demanding realm. Both
stylistically and substantively, Akhtar's psychologically brilliant as well as
beautifully crafted book is prepared very well for a general audience.

Structurally,
nine chapters comprise the substantive essence of the book. There are, as
well, a goodly number of "Notes" adjoining the text, which further
refreshingly breathe edifying air into the intellectual lungs of the textual
body. Factual fragments of real life stories, including some autobiographical
snippets, germane to the ebb and flow of the text are grafted skillfully into
the textual corpus.

Akhtar is a
weighty thinker who insightfully propounds well articulated psychological views.
The expert analysis permeating the discourse of Akhtar is accompanied by a sort
of mystical aspect. An important reality is that many of the nooks and
crannies ensconced in the psychological encasement of things are lit rather
dimly, and are resistant to unequivocally clear scientific illumination.

Critically, the
intriguing psychological musings of Akhtar are wedded more to qualitative,
rather than quantitative rooted, thinking. Critics may opine that these
musings are not fixed firmly by the bricks and mortar of well established
scientific facts. Similarly, the poetic savor wafting through the book,
however stylistically pleasing, is not constricted by the demanding bounds of
scientific rigor.

Nevertheless, it
cannot sensibly be gainsaid that the discourse, so artfully drawn by Akhtar, is
remarkably mesmerizing. As Akhtar explains enthrallingly, in Chapter One,
things are needed, by humans, to satisfy myriad needs. Things, or physical
objects, are valued for their actual physical usefulness, and, very importantly,
prized as well for their emotional value. Akhtar, indeed, exhorts the reader
to admit an ineluctable truth: humans and their physical objects of desire are
"lovers" impactfully attached emotionally. As a caveat, Akhtar
cautions that the emotional contours of things are not etched in stone; but,
instead, the emotional rooted purposes served by objects of desire may change
mercurially as one advances through the life cycle.

In Chapter Two,
Akhtar postulates that the tendency to collect things is exhibited by humans
universally. An unraveling of the strands of the knotty psychological question
of why people collect things garners the thoughtful attention of Akhtar. The
phenomenon of "hoarding" is also adeptly dissected and examined by
Akhtar, utilizing a scalpel steeped in psychology.

Another rung of
the psychological ladder of things is climbed carefully, by Akhtar, in Chapter
Three. A psychological lesson imparted is that physical objects, in the
imaginative realm of nostalgia, may have considerable sway. Humans, according
to Akhtar, show universally a tendency to exalt things that have been lost; and
this exaltation of lost objects is the psychological heart of nostalgia. As
expounded by Akhtar, nostalgia actually is characteristically bittersweet: bitter,
because it reminds one of a lost object; but also sweet, because it mentally
reconnects one with an imaginatively idealized version of the lost object.

In untiring
search of psychological understanding of things, Akhtar gamely traverses additional
rungs of the psychologically challenging ladder of things. Insightful,
informed exposition of the psychological aspects of sacred things is the crux
of Chapter Four. In Chapter Five, Akhtar, revealing his usual great talent in
painting a canvas showing poetic grace as well as profound psychology centric
acumen, discourses on sexy things. Visual routes to male sexual excitement,
things women find sexy, and the fallow research field of "evolutionary
aesthetics" are luminously studied. The region of "hybrid"
things is entered doughtily by Akhtar, in Chapter Six. Multifarious forms of
biological and inanimate hybrids are discussed quite interestingly. In Chapter
Seven, things are eyed perspicaciously through the discerning lens of Akhtar in
diligent search of elements of mendacity. Akhtar is up to the task of plunging
headlong into the turbid psychological waters of motivations fueling forgers
and counterfeiters, and emotional responses to such cheats.

Falling within
the far extending ken of Akhtar, in Chapter Eight, are the enmeshed emotional-psychological
dynamics underlying variant ways of parting with things, enveloping the
"misplacing", "losing", and "letting go" of
things. A somewhat lurid flavor tinges concluding Chapter Nine, with tentacles
of sobering discussion reaching to burial, cremation, and violations of dead
bodies.

This vastly
psychologically illumining and elegantly written book should be immensely
appealing to mental health professionals, including psychologists,
psychiatrists, and psychoanalysts.

Leo Uzych (based in Wallingford, PA) earned a law degree, from Temple University; and a master of public health degree, from
Columbia University. His area of special professional interest is
healthcare.

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